Life Happens

It seems I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging. I mean, if you read my blog, you know I'm a spaz anyway, but I haven't blogged since March! Life happened. I'm still around. I'm still drawing clip art & I'm still a librarian, but I just didn't feel like blogging... Or when I felt like it, I didn't have time. 

Things have been a whirlwind since that last post. You all know how the end of a school year is, then summer was a blur of library inventory & travel. I went to Chicago, Mobile, New Orleans, and Orange Beach... In that order! I got back just in time for school to start. 

Me at a tiny Dr. Seuss gallery I stumbled upon 

in New Orleans. I wish I could've afforded 

something! There were LOTS of originals. 

We had a shindig for my MeeMaw's 93 birthday. We sang, we danced, we stuffed our faces, she laughed & talked me into eating a hot pepper (which I love usually) that was hotter than the fires of H-E-double hockey stick, almost literally ROTFL at my red face & me fanning my poor scalded mouth. 

That very night she fell, went into the hospital & never came home again. 

She was amazing. At 93 she had more energy than I do at 36. I'm not kidding. She planted a garden every year. She still drove. She worked one day per week because she loved to get out of the house. She was funny and frisky. She sang like an angel before her voice began to crack with age.

 Guess who she's sticking her tongue out at? :-) 

I miss her very much and some days I just want to work on going through the pictures I've inherited and write down stories before I forget them. This has made it even harder to get motivated for everything else. 

I'm not depressed... In fact, I'm not sure how I feel. Blessed perhaps? I had her happy and healthy for 36 years. I'm so very grateful for that, but there's a MeeMaw shaped hole in my life. 

All of this has made me think about how very short life really is. Even 93 years isn't long enough! Do I want to spend every waking minute on things for school? No. People, I love my job, but it's still a job. I feel awful about all of the chances I wasted... All of the time I could have spent with her. A lot of that time was spent working outside of the school on school related tasks. Some of the remainder was squandered on mental exhaustion. You know what I mean. 

By all means, be a great educator. Just don't forget the ones you love and don't let it monopolize your time. 

You may have seen less of me, but you haven't seen the last of me. I'm still here trying to be the best at I can be at all aspects of life. I don't enjoy mediocrity. We all must find our balance. 

~Foxy 

I love to READ week!

Valentine's Day isn't exactly my favorite holiday. (It's not much fun when you're single.) But, I'm always trying to come up with ways to make it fun in the library. We've been out of school ALL week. (Believe me I've been using that time wisely... Working on our school yearbook and even a little painting and custom clip art work too... With a few strategically placed naps in between.;-)) We may even have MORE bad weather next week! (It doesn't take much to keep us out of school here in KY.) If we actually manage to be in school next week, I have some fun plans and I really think these plans would be fun not just in the library, but also in your classrooms! Give it a whirl! ;-)

Plan #1: I want to cover the library tables with bulletin board paper. I'm going to allow students to write on the table about the book they love most! Hopefully, others will read what they've written and it will inspire them to try a new book! Fun, huh? Since I only see students once per week, I guess I'll try to leave it on there for as long as it will hold up. :-) (Yes, I'm still planning as I go! Lol) 

Plan #2: Mystery Date With a Book. I did this last year. It's a little bit labor intensive for a time-cramped librarian, but the kids loved it and I got a few of them to try stuff they never would have picked out on their own. I even have all the resources you need in my TpT store. (It was one of the very first things I ever posted! Even before I started making clip art!)  I wrap up some of my favorite books (especially older ones that don't get circulated much) and put labels on the front telling the important information. Then, if they actually finish the book and take the AR test, they get a prize!

 

 

Plan #3: I'm not sure if I'll get to do this next week or not, but in the past, I've had a "Book Float Parade." (See the pictures above.) Students use a shoe box and decorate it like a tiny parade float to represent their favorite book. We tie ropes to them, blast the marching band music and drag them down the halls of our school while students who didn't make floats line the hallways to watch the parade go by! The kiddos love it... And so do I.  My float is always the same. It's a Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus float. My shoebox looks like the bus and my Pigeon stuffed animal sits on top. :-) (It really is my favorite book! I mean, can you think of any other read-aloud that would allow you to throw a hissy fit? You know we all want to sometimes!) Some of our teachers are even planning to do some writing to tie in with it. Woo hoo! I love it! Kids writing all about why they love their favorite book!
 

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to try something new in your classroom or library next week. There's a perfect book out there for everyone. Our job is to help them find it and these activities should give kiddos lots of ideas about what to read next!

 



Super Sale going on now!

EVERYTHING'S on SALE! 

(Forgive me... I'm using my iPad to blog & I can't get this cute little sale button to work!

 Grrr! Please just click the word SALE above.) 

I started my sale just a bit early so that you football fans (like me) don't have to miss any of the game OR the commercials! (Isn't that the best part? Those Clydesdales get me every time!) So, who ya rootin' for?

My team's not playing, (I'm a Bears fan!) but I still have my favorite picked. I'm cheering for the Broncos! Peyton deserves it after being kicked to the curb by his former team. (Just my opinion... Don't hate! Lol) 

Don't like football? I didn't either until I obtained two stepbrothers in my late twenties & they forced me to start watching! I love it now that I'm starting to get it. I knew NOTHING about football. My high school didn't even have a team! I guess we just weren't a big enough school! 

For those of you who like my library lesson plans, week 21 will hopefully be up tomorrow night! Wish me luck on getting those done... Sometimes I'm sooooo lazy on the weekends! 

Iditarod Clip Art!

It occurred to me as I sold one of these this morning, that I had never shared my Iditarod clip art set with you! It is a set that is close to my heart since the huskies in the set are modeled after MY huskies. I would NOT recommend mushing with my two. I'm relatively sure they would run me right into a tree or something. :-) of course, as I'm lying there in pain they would probably be sweet enough to come back to lick my face. They are sweethearts, but a bit on the spastic side. Hmmm... Kind of like their mother (me). No wonder I have fallen in love with the most neurotic of dog breeds! Lol! Anyhoo... Here's a preview. Follow the link in the top left corner to see the rest of the set! :-)

See it here!

The Lame-o LibraryFox

Ok... so I'm a terrible blogger. 

I skipped the entire month of December.  I haven't posted ANY new clip art.  :-(

I just sort of checked out for a while.  I'm a woooser.  (aka: loser.)

... but I needed it.  I get stressed out at Christmas time.  It is my favorite holiday, but it's a love/hate relationship.  It's sort of depressing for us single folks... and that's all I'm going to say about that.  I had a wonderful Christmas though and I hope you did too.  Ugh... I still have to take down my tree.  :-( I really hate that part.  I get used to seeing it and then the house looks bare without it.  lol

Anyway, in honor of me being such a lame-o LibraryFox, I decided to put some of my clip art sets on sale and I even made a couple of things FREE! Hop over to my store to see what you can find!

 

There's even a new set of FREE fonts! :-)

 

...and I've just added this set of sports uniforms.  These are blackline only so that your students can decorate them as they like!  I'm no math teacher, but I totally see some of these being used to let students decorate them with numbers then add and subtract each others' numbers. I'm sure y'all could come up with even better ideas than that!  Click here to see them in my store!

 

 

I'm not going to promise to be any better of a blogger in 2014 than I was in 2013, but thank you for making my first year of blogging a success!

 

 

 

What does the Fox say?

My kiddos are always asking me that now that they all know the song. I just tell them that a Library Fox says, "Shhhhh!"

But today, I got the CUTEST ever email from the mama of one of my 2nd grade boys:

Well, I just have to share!

We are getting ready for school this morning, and I hear it - again. That most annoying song (but in the sweetest voice ever) "What Does the Fox Say?!" It has been pretty constant at our house.

But, this time, the song catches my attention...he is just singing away....

"What does the Crystal Fox say? Ring a ling a ling a ling a ling..... What does the Crystal Fox say?"

Is that not the cutest?! Let me tell ya... It made my day! :-)

Oh yeah! I got so excited to tell you my story that I almost forgot to tell you about my new clip art set. It's some cute little rotten kids (boys & girls). Perfect for the bullies or bad kids in your stories! These were originally a custom set for my buddy, Nicole Shelby, to use for the Herdman kids in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. They are even named after those kids. ;-)


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rotten-Kids-clip-art-for-Personal-or-Commerical-Use-984780

Please forgive me for ugly links & stuff. I'm posting this on my iPad & I really don't like this version of Blogger. Anyone else feel that way? Maybe I'm missing something, but I hate not being able to add links to images! Oh well, happy hump day! :-)

New Clip Art Sets

Hey!  I finally had a chance to post a couple of new clip art sets!  Yay! 

Back before school started, I had a chance to make some clip art for a teacher in Moore, OK.  If that name sounds familiar, there's a reason.  That's where the terrible tornado hit and destroyed an elementary school.  A teacher there contacted me to make her some clip art of kiddos in army uniforms lifting weights.  This set is what she got. 

 

She sent me a picture of her finished bulletin board.  I think it turned out really cute!

 

 

The other set was a request, too!  A friend contacted me to make her some setting clip art.  Well, here it is!  I can see this being used with writing prompts! I'm sure there's other ideas of things to use it for, but that's the only place my brain will go right now.  lol...  I admit it.  I'm a little brain dead.  ;-)

 

Well, I'm gonna go try to find something warm to wear tomorrow.  It looks like we're gonna have our coldest day yet.  Boo!  I hate cold weather.  Oh well, I guess I'll live.  :-)